Betty Gravlin, author of free e-books at Barnes and Noble and Smashwords.com.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

I haven't been updating this blog lately. I've become involved in Christ Renews His Parish weekends. I attended my first one in March. I helped to lead one Oct 6-7. Now I am helping the next team to get ready for a weekend in February or March, 2008.It amazes me how powerful these weekends are. The dozen participants were as thrilled as I was at how God touches hearts and renews faith. The saying, "It is more blessed to give than receive" is very true, because I was blessed by giving the weekend. I love passing on the faith. There is nothing better than knowing that the Holy Spirit has been working through the meager efforts of his people.I am helping with the pre-RCIA sessions again. Last year, the parish didn't have many people who needed those sessions, so I took a break. This is another way I can pass on the faith. It is a thrill to see those I have instructed being baptized on Holy Saturday.I have been busy with a couple writing projects this year. I wrote a thematic bible study and a piece that is in the Screwtape Letter genre. I want to find a publisher for them.In July - August, the family visited Daytona Beach and Orlando, FL. We had a budget motel right on the beach. That's the first time our family has had that type of convenience. I liked it, because I could see if the waves were big enough to ride. If they weren't, I continued to read the two Harry Potter books we brought. I read number six and seven, so I finished the series while on vacation.I loved them all and it will be strange to not be looking forward to the next book in the series. It was well worth reading all seven of these tomes. I don't read a lot of fiction and I don't write it either. However, I really admire J.K Rowlings' ability to spin a great, spell-binding (pardon the pun) tale. The other book I read while on vacation was Peter Kreeft's Handbook of Christian Apologetics. I found the chapter on the Problem of Evil to be awesome. The part about how can God be both just and merciful really touched my heart. I have been pondering the merciful love of God since I read that page. It was an epiphany for me. The understanding of mercy has never been so real to me before. I want to tell everyone about it. I feel the muse (or is it the Holy Spirit?) telling me to start writing another bible study about it. Before I do that, I want to focus on getting the one I wrote published. It is such a waste to fill up my hard drive with writings that have never seen the light of day. So I better get back to writing that book proposal.